The Credential Explosion: Navigating a Million Options
There are over one million unique credentials in the United States according to Credential Engine’s 2022 report—more than triple since the 2018 report—and this figure continues to grow. The count in these reports include diplomas, certificates, digital badges, licenses and certifications approximately 59,000 providers offer. Approximately half of these credential offerings are provided by nontraditional education providers and are shorter (nondegree) in nature, often referenced as microcredentials. Based on this data, the question must be asked: Are microcredentials the future of education or just another temporary trend?
Degrees Under Pressure: Can Traditional Credentials Keep Pace?
Rapid societal and technological changes have raised doubts about whether traditional degrees can maintain their value and relevance in the future. As business needs evolve, the shelf life of skills is shortening. The World Economic Forum (WEF) implies the gap is widening between the type of credentials higher education institutions provide and the skills needed to work in today’s organizations. Add concern about rising costs of degrees, and it is no wonder the debate continues. Microcredentials are a natural next step for an ever-changing workforce demanding agility and lifelong learning.
Learners today expect speed and flexibility for their learning experience. According to the Career Optimism Index® 2024 study, 74% of workers recognize that staying ahead in their careers requires continually acquiring new skills. Microcredentials in the form of certificates, digital badges or smaller units of learning offer learners a way to stay relevant and competitive in a world that changes constantly. They are attractive to adult learners, individuals switching careers and those who may be hesitant to enter a traditional academic pathway.
Skills-First Hiring: Employers Shift Gears
There is a shift in employers hiring practices as well. A McKinsey Global Institute survey found the move toward skills-first hiring is not a temporary trend but an economic necessity to meet organizational talent needs and achieve strategic goals. Many state governments have eliminated formal degree requirements for public sector jobs, and private employers are following suit. These trends make microcredentials an even more attractive solution for upskilling and reskilling efforts.
Making Microcredentials Matter
As the number of providers offering microcredentials has grown, from private sector providers to higher education institutions, the lack of initial standards has created confusion. Higher education has an opportunity to bring credibility into the space by offering microcredentials that are not only accessible but transparent and relevant. Microcredentials only become meaningful currency in the talent economy when they are mapped to workforce needs, assessed reliably and communicated transparently.
Microcredentials can stand alone and eventually stack to a degree, or they can be earned en route to a degree. Standalone microcredentials provide individuals an opportunity to upskill or reskill quickly, while embedded microcredentials in a degree program empower learners to make a career move sooner, as they are acquiring skills through their journey. There is power in creating both options for learners. Regardless of the approach, the microcredentials need to be aligned to relevant skills, and they should include authentic assessments to evaluate demonstration of those skills.
Beyond Badges: Connecting Skills to Career Opportunities
By mapping programs and courses leveraging skills taxonomy, institutions can build the infrastructure to group and stack relevant skills into embedded microcredentials appropriate to specific disciplines and career pathways. This approach will reduce credential inflation or what some refer to as badge fatigue. The goal is to signal what someone can do in a way that aligns to meaningful competencies that help employers close the skills gap and talent shortage. Creating a badge or credential for everything only contributes to the chaos instead of clearly signaling someone’s skill to an employer.
There are multiple use cases for a skills-aligned learning approach, applicable to many settings including the ability for job seekers to better communicate their value to prospective employers, as well as organizations trying to find candidates who would be the right fit. Moreover, as the cost of higher education rises, microcredentials enable learners to accrue value sooner and continuously instead of only upon completing their degree. This approach empowers learners to communicate their skills, capabilities and value to organizations earlier and more clearly. In addition, learners gain confidence as they acquire each new skill.
Additional career tools could be created to complement learning in the classroom and empower learners to build momentum in their career planning. When skills are assessed at the course level and badges can be earned through a collection of demonstrated skills, learners can feed those updates through a dynamic professional profile or learning and employment record (LER).
Degrees Plus Microcredentials Equals a Stronger Future
Microcredentials are not undermining degrees. If designed strategically, they are amplifying the power of traditional credentials and showcasing flexible options for ongoing skills development. When leveraged properly, learners can personalize their learning to align to their individual career goals while solving a problem for employers struggling to find talent. Degrees are still valuable by focusing on deeper, more complex, durable and technical skills. They also develop future leaders and foster deep disciplinary knowledge. Microcredentials complement them.
Credentials offer more personalized, relevant and timely skills that meet learners and employers where they are. Higher education should focus on degrees and microcredentials concurrently, becoming more responsive and relevant to learners’ needs. If higher education doesn’t, someone else will.
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